Emergency Dentistry

A toothache can result from different dental problems, but the most common causes are dental trauma and decay. Patients experiencing severe toothache should get in contact with the office right away. We will arrange an emergency visit and give you some advice on how to ease the pain in the meantime. We know how awful toothache can be, so our main objective is to relieve your pain. We will get you in as soon as we can and try to eliminate the cause so that you can head back home with no concerns.

What to do when you have a toothache

The first step is to call our office. Once you have scheduled the visit, you can take whichever pain-killer is safe for you to ease the discomfort. Try to keep the area clean by rinsing it with warm salty water.

Our dentist should first check the affected tooth to determine the course of treatment. A visual exam and x-ray of the area will help him to evaluate the case better.

The treatment for dental trauma varies according to the severity or extension of the damage. Dr. Howey can quickly fix a small chip or fracture with tooth-colored bonding material. However, to repair a larger fracture, he might choose a dental crown to fully restore the tooth’s aesthetic and function. A root canal treatment may also be required at this stage.

In some cases, when the tooth is deeply cracked or extensively fractured, our dentist will have no choice but to remove it and replace it with a dental implant.

A knocked-out tooth should be treated immediately. Lost (and misplaced) teeth are time-dependent: the sooner the dentist repositions the teeth, the better chances of saving them. (Ask Dr. Howey about the time he re-implanted a tooth at a soccer game!)

If you find the knocked-out tooth, grab it by the crown and store it in a container with milk. Ideally, you should come to the office within an hour of the accident. If you don’t have milk, you can use saline water or your own saliva (never tap water). We cannot guarantee that the tooth will be saved, but we will see you immediately and do our best to preserve it.

*** Misplaced teeth and lost teeth are time-dependent.

A dental abscess is an acute infection that causes redness and swelling. It is usually localized at the tip of the tooth’s root, and it looks like a pimple on the gum tissue. Patients with abscesses can sometimes feel pain, but not always. When they do feel pain, they describe it as discomfort that comes and goes or a persistent throbbing pain in the area of the affected tooth.

Abscesses are a consequence of a bacterial infection. To treat this condition, Dr. Howey will perform a root canal treatment in the affected tooth. If the infection is too severe, he might also prescribe antibiotics.

It’s not very usual, but sometimes dental crowns come off, or fillings fall out. These situations deserve urgent dental attention for two reasons. First of all, both situations can compromise your smile aesthetic and general appearance. But apart from that, it’s not convenient to have the remaining tooth exposed for too long, as the inner tissues of the teeth are more susceptible to dental decay than the enamel.

If a dental crown falls off, keep it and bring it to the office. On many occasions, the cap can be re-cemented to the tooth. On the other hand, fillings can’t go back in, so there’s no need to keep the restoration. Dr. Howey will place a new filling where the old one used to be. However, if the filling came off due to decay, he will re-evaluate the case and consider placing a crown instead to strengthen the remaining tooth.